GOD: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher - The Podcast

48. An Actor's Perspective | Interviews: Jerry Asks Scott [Part 1]

November 11, 2021 Jerry L. Martin, Scott Langdon
GOD: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher - The Podcast
48. An Actor's Perspective | Interviews: Jerry Asks Scott [Part 1]
Show Notes Transcript

"What drew me to this project in the first place, my faith background, and what it was like making the adaptation of God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher from the perspective of being an actor..." 

Join the meaningful discussion of the book God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher by Dr. Jerry L. Martin. Discover more about the book, history, humankind, spirituality, and God through the first of a continuous series of ambitious interviews with insightful guests. Part one of Dr. Jerry L. Martin interviewing the actor, host, and creative director of God: An Autobiography, The Podcast, Scott Langdon.

Scott Langdon is an actor, writer, and photographer seen on stages throughout the professional Philadelphia theater community. Scott is also an exceptional vocal talent and, in addition to being Creative Director and host, plays the voice of Jerry L. Martin in God: An Autobiography, The Podcast

Read God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher.

Would You Like To Share Your Experience With God? We Want To Hear About Your Spiritual Journey!

Share Your Story | Site | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube |

Scott Langdon [00:00:17] This is God: An Autobiography, The Podcast. A dramatic adaptation and continuing discussion of the book God: An Autobiography As Told To A Philosopher by Jerry L. Martin. He was a lifelong agnostic, but one day he had an occasion to pray. To his vast surprise, God answered- in words. Being a philosopher, he had a lot of questions, and God had a lot to tell him. Episode 48. 

Scott Langdon [00:01:17] Hello and welcome to Episode 48 of God: An Autobiography, The Podcast. I'm your host, Scott Langdon. In this episode, we bring you part one of a two part interview Jerry conducted with me. We talk about what drew me to this project in the first place, my faith background, and what it was like making the adaptation of God: An Autobiography As Told To A Philosopher from the perspective of being an actor. Here's part one of Jerry's interview with me. I hope you enjoy. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:02:00] Hello, Scott Langdon. 

Scott Langdon [00:02:02] Hello there. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:02:03] As the listeners know, I hired you to help with social media, and to my surprise, you turned out to be an actor. And I wonder why you applied for the job of social media in general, since your real thing in life is to be an actor and to bring characters to life to make them real? 

Scott Langdon [00:02:28] Well, it's really interesting because when I saw your advertisement on Craigslist for this job as it was proposed to social media and things, I had already had lined up for me more work as an actor than I had ever had lined up in a row. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:02:52] Yes. 

Scott Langdon [00:02:52] In my career, a year and a half in advance, I knew what I was going to be doing- which is very rare, and it was a big blessing. And I was looking on Craigslist for no real reason under writing gigs because I had done a couple of ghostwriting jobs for other clients, and I thought maybe while I have some downtime, you know, after the show that I'm about to do, once it goes off and I have some time during the day, I could, you know, do some other jobs. And I looked on there and I saw your advertisement, which I thought was strange to be in that section of Craigslist. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:03:35] Right. 

Scott Langdon [00:03:36] And I'm very-- I've always been interested in philosophy and theology, and the idea of working with and for two retired philosophy professors and just, wow, what a great! I Think I could learn a lot, that would be great. So let's see what's up. So I answered the ad thinking that would be a nice sort of sideline for while I'm doing all of this other acting work. I can do this on the side. That'd be great. And little did I know that it would turn out to be what it is and what it has been. And at the same time, that all of that acting work that I had lined up would completely go away because of the pandemic. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:04:21] Pandemic. This was like a month before the pandemic started. 

Scott Langdon [00:04:25] Four days before I was to fly to Florida to do a job. They canceled that. And then subsequently, every other job was canceled. And it turned out all I had left in the end at that point was what we were deciding to do with this job. You know, you had hired me before that, and then I found out that I had lost everything else, and here we were trying to figure out what we wanted to do with the God book, and it got underway. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:04:54] Yeah. And before we go on with that, because I think it's interesting, you know, you said you didn't know you were being hired by someone who claims to have talked to God, you know. 

Scott Langdon [00:05:05] Yeah. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:05:05] Book and so forth. But before we get to that, where did you start out religiously? I mean, what had been your journey up to the point where you started working with Abigail and me? 

Scott Langdon [00:05:18] Hmm. I was born in South Philadelphia, right around the airport and Tinicum Island and my grandparents, my grandfather had worked for Westinghouse and all through the war, Second World War and everything. And they had lived in that area, and I grew up, did some of my early growing up right across the street from my grandparents, and we were Lutheran when I was christened and was Lutheran in that tradition up until about 1983, I guess. And at which point we moved into New Jersey, into rural New Jersey, southern Jersey. And my folks met the local minister for the Church of Christ, which is a more Evangelical group of folks. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:06:14] Right. 

Scott Langdon [00:06:15] And it tugged on the heartstrings of my mom and dad who were going through some things at the time spiritually and found a real focused kind of direction. And the youth group there was really terrific. And the folks that were serving as the youth minister were great. And so it just felt like something that was really a good thing to do. And so we started going to that church. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:06:40] It felt okay to you as well?

Scott Langdon [00:06:43] It well, it felt. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:06:46] Had you been serious about religion when you were at Lutheran? 

Scott Langdon [00:06:51] Yeah. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:06:52] Or like many kids, just waiting for it to be over. 

Scott Langdon [00:06:55] Right. Yeah. Well, I grew up in the same area with my cousins, my cousins, my dad's side of my family, I have several cousins that are around the same age as I am and they are all Catholic, and we're Lutheran. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:07:11] Oh really? 

Scott Langdon [00:07:11] Yeah. So in their tradition, when they were in second and third and fourth grade, that's when the boys become acolytes or, you know, altar boys. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:07:23] Yes. 

Scott Langdon [00:07:23] And they didn't ever want to do it and did it, but I always wanted to do it. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:07:29] You thought, how great. 

Scott Langdon [00:07:30] I thought it was amazing because in the Lutheran tradition, they're called acolytes, and you have to be in middle school. So sixth, seventh, eighth grade to do it in that tradition. So I still had time. I was in third grade, but none of the young men at the time, it was all just men, women, girls didn't do it at all, but this is in the early seventies, but none of the boys wanted to do it. And I would just say, I want to do this. I want to do it. I can be an acolyte.

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:07:59] Right? You're ready to go. 

Scott Langdon [00:08:00] Yeah. So, there was a special dispensation that the local pastor gave to me, and I wore-- I was in the children's choir and I had a smaller robe. It wasn't the black robe, it was crimson instead, but it fit me. I couldn't fit into the bigger robes, but he let me wear that, and I served in that way. And I just I knew at that, I knew during all of that during-- with the organ and the stained glass and the Bach and the handle and the baroque painting. I just somehow always knew that God and I were together. I just never had a situation where I thought God wasn't present. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:08:38] Okay. Yes.

Scott Langdon [00:08:38] And then, but then when we got into the Church of Christ, the Evangelical tradition. I was told that I thought I was in a relationship with God, but I really wasn't. So. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:08:50] Right. 

Scott Langdon [00:08:51] I realized during the course of this work on this project, and we've talked about this before, I don't know if it's a chicken and egg- did the work change me? Did I change it? But I just know that during the course of this time as sort of awakening, remembrance, I don't know how I want to, I don't know how to articulate it, but just a remembering of God and me being one, separate and same at the same time. But I think when I got into that other tradition, the way I heard the teaching and not everybody hears it this way, but the way I had it was like God was somewhere else, and my behavior would either bring God back to me. God would turn God's face back to me or not. And I was always going to be short, and God's mercy, but I had to earn it, but it was free. I couldn't grasp any of that. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:09:50] Even earning it, you can't count on it because it requires God's free act to decide to let you in. 

Scott Langdon [00:09:57] Right. And philosophically, I couldn't put that theology together because now, and I realize now through the course of this, that I had already known that oneness. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:10:08] Yes. 

Scott Langdon [00:10:09] As an eight year old boy in that role of acolyte. I knew when I looked up at this huge painting of Jesus in the garden, and I wish I could remember the artist offhand, but I think if folks see it, they would see it. You know, it's pretty popular. But he's laying against the rock and his hands are here and his disciples are in the background asleep, and there's a light shining on him. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:10:33]  Yes. 

Scott Langdon [00:10:34] He may even have, you know, redder hair and the beard. And it's the Anglophile. I mean, I get that it's your--

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:10:42] Oh right, it's not historically accurate, but. 

Scott Langdon [00:10:43] Right. I never knew that, I never thought Jesus actually sat for that painting. You know what I mean? Even as an eight year old, I knew that in that painting was...something about it, something about the stained glass, something about the music. Just, I just knew that God and I were in it. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:11:03] Yeah. 

Scott Langdon [00:11:04] So. So after this new introduction of this new tradition, I think from then on, I was always trying to figure out where it's here, where is it? Is it in? So it's in what method do I have to find? 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:11:17] Yes. 

Scott Langdon [00:11:17] This method, that method, and then I got to there's no method that's it, there's no method type of thing. But then I realized that became a method itself. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:11:27] Right. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's very--. 

Scott Langdon [00:11:32] No method became the method. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:11:34] Yeah, that becomes the message and one is in a funny spiral at that point. Well, what I remember early on, Scott, is that when you first read God: An Autobiography. You know, at first I tend to give people warnings. You know, this is you know, as I always say, friends don't let friends talk to God, at least not let Him talk back, you know. It's kind of embarrassing. You know, say, no, I don't want that job. So I kind of put warnings up front and said, you could talk to Laura Buck, our other partner in this project. If you have questions, you might not feel comfortable bringing to me. But as you read the book, I remember you're saying in part because you're an actor, you understand theater and drama and you've taught it as well as enacted it, and you started seeing this, as you might say, a play. And that's how the idea well. Let's not do a stage play, but let's do a podcast where Jerry can interact. Jerry, enacted by Scott, can interact with God where I'm repeating, you know, saying I'm trying to enact the words as told to me and as recorded in the book. And then you took it from there in terms of designing this podcast. And, you know, we've talked about the role of an actor. The way you think of it, it's almost ontological in its character. When you enact a character, you do enact Scrooge. You have a one man Scrooge, you do. You enact Scrooge. Scrooge becomes real on the stage. You're still Scott Langdon. So it's a complexity that well prepares you, in fact, for God: An Autobiography, because the world has these kind of complexities. But you're both Scott, but fully, that character becomes real. You bring the character to life. And here what my wife, Abigail, who's heard me talk about and quote from the God book to audiences, she says, When I do it, I'm remembering I ask this and God said. When you do it, it's present tense. It's happening now as we listen to it. And is that your sense of how this takes place? 

Scott Langdon [00:14:31] Yeah. Yeah, it is. It is. There are a couple of things that unfolded about my process as an actor that came about as we did this. And during the pandemic, when everything was shut down and nobody was working as an actor in terms of regular theater, the way we know and for a long time, film and TV wasn't doing anything either. And so the opportunity to really dig into the craft was now possible in something like this. When I first read it I thought that it deserved two things. I thought it deserved to have two literal voices. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:15:19] Yes. 

Scott Langdon [00:15:20] And I thought, the second thing I thought was that it deserved to have Jerry Martin's voice, your particular voice, be the one that speaks the words of God. Because you heard the voice. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:15:36] Yeah. I always felt I had the same sense that if it were some other actor doing the God voice, it would seem like fiction. And people tend to take something like this, they tend to assume it's fiction. It's Jerry Martin putting his own thoughts into a dramatic format or something. No, I had no thoughts about these topics at the beginning except certain kind of experience, and then I kind of philosophically trained skepticism. But it did seem to me important that, no, this isn't some other person pretending to have heard God. This is Jerry Martin enacting Jerry Martin. You know the guy who heard the voice presenting it as best he can as a kind of reenactment of the original moment of hearing it. But I kind of interrupted you, Scott, go on with what you were saying. That number one needed to be the two voices. 

Scott Langdon [00:16:31] Right. Right. It turned out that I kind of had the idea that because you had talked about that idea, that when you talk about it, you had been talking about it when you would speak, that it always seemed like remembrance. We had talked about that early on as when we thought maybe we'd do an audio book or what we do. And I remember hearing that a couple of times and I thought, Well, then what it does need is this sort of present tense sort of presentation. And so I thought, well, maybe if we-- it doesn't need to be dramaticized because it is already drama and the way the book is written, where, you know, when you literally look at the print that God's words are in bold print as well. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:17:18] Right. 

Scott Langdon [00:17:19] And you are in the italics when you are talking back, or however, it's set up it's very distinct when you're reading it, who's talking and whoever is reading. And, you know, we do this all the time. When we read, we hear a voice in our head that we think the character sounds like. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:17:35] Yes. 

Scott Langdon [00:17:36] I thought of your voice. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:17:38] Oh, I see. And it. 

Scott Langdon [00:17:39] It just made sense, which makes sense. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:17:41] And makes sense. Yeah. 

Scott Langdon [00:17:42] You know, and so adapting that into this sort of-- because I kept thinking maybe we need to dramatize this in some way. And then I thought, that's not the right word. I think if we adapt it for a different medium, that's different than dramatizing it because it already is drama. So in a way, it almost wrote itself in the sense that that dialogue was already there, and I thought it would be really cool for listeners to hear this back and forth of two audio literal different voices. And yet it's all coming from your book.
Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:18:21] And as I take it, the drama isn't Jerry being surprised to have God speak to him, Jerry, who had no interest in God beforehand, had God speak to him. And then Jerry being in part a philosophy professor, but also just a modern person, has all these questions and constantly argues. And then so the drama, as I hear it, is in the dialogue itself that Jerry is saying, "Oh, well what about this?" And God says, "Well, here is how it is." And Jerry sometimes saying, "Oh, okay, I see now and then having another. Well, if that's true, then what about this other question?" But other times Jerry just said, "Well, that doesn't make sense. And, you know, I'm an old logic professor and, you know, everything is either this or that." And God keeps saying, "Logic isn't that good for what we're doing here."

Scott Langdon [00:19:17] Right. Right. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:19:19] Hmm. You know- how does this compute for your logic, Professor? But anyway, it's just full of questions and then God trying to explain these things. And I take it from what you were saying, Scott, one of the first things God says is the sense in which God is always present. God is everything in the world. In one sense, God is both the same and other, is always said. So, that God is Scott, and Abigail,  and so forth, but is also different enough. God manifests Himself both as us, and you might say as God, and is different enough for us to be in relationship and even have this kind of dialogue, you know, an argument. You know, and that's real. It's not make believe or pretend, that's also real. But the backdrop to that reality, back to this question of divine presence, is that God is always present. 

Scott Langdon [00:20:24] Right.

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:20:25] In multiple ways, probably, but at least one way. And present and available to each person out there, each listener, to Scott, to Abigail, to the next person, to their next door neighbor, God is always available. And that's part of the challenge of life. Keeping-- if God seems kind of hidden, keeping that present to mind, you might say, as a vital understanding in our lives. 

Scott Langdon [00:20:55] Yeah. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:20:55] That it makes sense to you?

Scott Langdon [00:20:57] Oh, absolutely. And one of the things that I think God has guided me to during the course of this work is, you know, we just finished episode 44. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:21:09] Yes. 

Scott Langdon [00:21:09] You know, the other day. So this process has gone on- how long is that been? You know, a year and a half?

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:21:17] Yeah, a year and a half at least. 

Scott Langdon [00:21:18] You know, 44 total episodes. And we've dissected this book back and forth and gone, you know, taken the adaptation drafts back and forth to one another, you know, over the web. And what's interesting to me is when I got to-- when I really started to approach it as an actor and started to kind of think about the relationship of the actor to the role-- So, for example, let me explain it this way, when I think about some of the episodes, when we would get to some of the episodes where God and Jerry were talking and Jerry, you know, disagrees or doesn't understand or pushes back against God. There's one of my favorite early episodes is the Neil Donald Walsh episode where, Jerry, when you run into his presentation in the bookstore and it's this polished prose and you ask God about it and God says, "Well, yeah, he pretty much got everything right. You know, I got a lot to tell." And Jerry is like, "What?" And I think when I got to that particular episode, I really wrestled with now, I want to be respectful of God and at the same time, I thought, if there's truth here, then the truth is that Jacob wrestled with the angel like they wrestled together. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:22:52] Okay. 

Scott Langdon [00:22:53] You know, and it looks like God, it looks like Jerry, he's going to wrestle with God. And I've got to get that. I got to make sure that that-- and so Scott allowed Scott's self, you know, I allowed that  just go with that. And if you feel frustrated and don't understand this point or if Jerry had, you look in the script and you see Jerry is butting up against this. Can you see how he would fight up against that? And it was easy for me to go, "yeah, I can, Scott can see that." And so when I would do it, when I would do the role and I would talk to your voice, that's God to me, you know, when I would talk to God, I would push back. And sometimes it--

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:23:39] In your own mind. 

Scott Langdon [00:23:40] Yeah, well, because my mind is now Jerry's mind. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:23:43] Yeah. So you're right in there pushing back. But what about this word? 

Scott Langdon [00:23:49] Right. And it's the same, you see? It's the same. It's analogous to God is to us, as I was, to the role of Jerry. In that what you hear is Jerry. There is no Jerry in that circumstance without me, right? So I thought, well then that's the truth of that moment when you're listening to this podcast in that episode you're hearing Jerry- that's a real thing in that moment. So I thought, all right, so I just had to have this real moment. And so Scott is infused in a sense with Jerry and pushing back. And so what you hear is Scott but it's also Jerry pushing back. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:24:30] Yes, yes, yes. 

Scott Langdon [00:24:31] The freedom of that as an actor, to do that with every role, if you can, that's actually the dream of every actor to be able to just completely surrender to what that character wants. And at the same time, you have to realize technical aspects of things. So I'm never not present as Scott, but I'm fully present as Jerry. 

Dr. Jerry L. Martin [00:24:51] Yes. 

Scott Langdon [00:24:52] And that's how God is with us. Always fully present, and yet allows us to have our character, if you will. 

Scott Langdon [00:25:08] Thank you for listening to GOD: An Autobiography, the podcast. Subscribe for free today wherever you listen to your podcasts and hear a new episode every week. You can hear the complete dramatic adaptation of God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher by Jerry L. Martin, by beginning with episode one of our podcast and listening through its conclusion with Episode 44. You can read the original true story in the book from which this podcast is adapted, God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher, available now at Amazon.com, and always at godanautobiography.com. Pick up your own copy today. If you have any questions about this or any other episode, please email us at questions@godanautobiography.com and experience the world from God's perspective as it was told to a philosopher. This is Scott Langdon. I'll see you next time.